Waiting
by 12345trash54321
Summary: "You'd think I'd learn that McDonalds is a bad choice. Or maybe Takeshi is a bad choice. Or maybe I just need to stop waiting and...aw crap, it's starting to rain." Genki Textbook Fanfic, Mary/Sue. It just came to me and Mary is a friggin' adorable nerd. Chapter 2 update: Sue's protectiveness turns into some doki doki shit and muah
1. Chapter 1

I don't even know what I was thinking.

I mean, okay, I **know** I don't like McDonalds. Jill from high school band asks me: _Hey Mary, how's the sushi life treating you?_

Then I have to remind myself that she let me copy off of her for the midterms, so I don't tell her that's a jerkface kind of thing to say. I'd take a picture of Ronald McDonald and send it to her, with a totally not-true caption.

 ** _'_** ** _I wouldn't know, I hang out at McDonalds all the time, waiting for this cute Japanese guy to learn the difference between here and god damn Hagen Dazs. But maybe he's just jerking me around and laughing it up with Robert and Ken. They're always over in that one corner of the university laughing about something. So if one day you see me next to Ronald McDonald in a wedding dress…'_**

Then I actually laugh, because I'm picturing that clown in a dress. It makes me feel a little better...even though McDonalds is closed today and the next bus isn't coming for a half hour.

What kind of dumbass student majoring in Japanese doesn't know McDonalds is closed during Obon?

And it started to rain. Just my luck.

I cram myself underneath the narrow overhang by the front door, but the rain still blows against my legs. I can't help but pout; these aren't my favorite socks or anything, but they were a present from my host family. They're...sweethearts.

And they're out of town today. I wouldn't want to bother them, anyway...after I got ripped off buying two new watches, they got me a new one.

It's raining a little harder, now. Protective paranoia clenches my empty tummy, and I yank off my watch. Into my backpack it goes, right next to a red Steven Universe folder with my latest graded assignment from Yamashita Sensei. B plus...I can do better than that.

And I will. I'm done wasting time looking at dumb boys who can't even read a map.

I joke and tell myself it's that.

Now the rain's coming down in buckets. The streets get really empty when it rains like this.

I check my phone. I grit my teeth and stifle a scream, but I just end up sounding like a leaky boiling kettle.

Kettle. 急須. Kyuusu. Well, that's more like a teapot I guess. I can write the kanji alright, but it's sort of embarrassing that in my head I still use romanji to pronounce most words.

I need to get better. I...I can at least do this right.

In the meantime, my phone reminds me that I never asked anybody for help. Not in the last half hour. Six percent battery life left and all I see is my last stupid, happy, hopeful update.

 ** _'_** ** _At Maku 'cuz it's just how I do! Good times and good burgers.'_**

I cringe, then I delete the update. I pretty much suck at social media...it all just comes out wrong.

I think too much. I...I hesitate. I keep waiting and...giving more chances to people.

My sneakers are soaked, and I can hear my toes squish-squashing against my wet socks. I turn around, wrap my arms around my backpack, and mash myself up against the door.

This stupid rain can get me wet all it wants, but I will **not** let my books and homework get wet.

Stupid rain.

Stupid Ronald McDonald sticker on the inside of the door.

...stupid Takeshi-san.

I'd like to sock them all in the face.

Well, rain doesn't have a face to sock. Oh, rain, um...雨. Yeah, ame.

I'd break a window punching McDork, here. Not really looking to get recruited by a biker gang. Or a trike gang, in my case.

I don't want to sock Takeshi-san, I guess. I just...feel like I do.

The thunder booms, and I start to cry. My cargo shorts are wet now, too. Nineteen year old transfer student cries over closed McDonalds, The Onion's top headline.

I shut my eyes and wait. It can't rain forever. I'll...wait.

I barely feel the warm hands squeezing my biceps. I don't see the umbrella held over me. My head is down and I'm just waiting.

"Mary, if you don't come with me right now...I'll stand right here and get soaked with you."

I open my eyes; I have to. The language nerd inside me actually blushed at hearing my name **without** the _san_.

Then the rest of me is blushing as I realize Sue-san came for me. I inch closer to her, underneath the umbrella. She doesn't budge. I look down again, suddenly not at all cold.

"How did you know…"

I won't ever forget the way Sue-san put her finger next to her nose, turned her head, and grinned.

"Call it my Mary-sense."

I'm done waiting. I'm done thinking...for now, anyway. We splash across the parking lot like children, stomping in puddles and kicking water everywhere. I'm an absolute mess, so even though I want to laugh, I worry I might just cry more. But that's okay, because Sue-san is laughing.

Her laughter lights up my insides like nothing I ever felt before.

Not even like when I broke the curve on the 101 midterm.

I flop into the passenger seat of her little Honda Fit, dripping like a soggy wildebeast.

I shiver sweetly when I feel the towels already laid over the passenger seat.

A third towel gets draped over the front of my also-soaked shirt. I muster the courage to look up.

' _Where can I meet you?'_

I hear Takeshi-san's words in my mind, but I don't have to force them out. They just float away, replaced by Sue-san's way better words.

"Where do you want me to take you?"

Her eyes are bright and water is just dripping all down her face...and all of a sudden it's too much. I have to look down again, down at my still-dry backpack. But I don't wait; not this time. I just say the first thing I feel. I don't really know what it is...but I really like it.

"ここはいいです."

 ** _'_** ** _Here is fine.'_**

I'm done waiting.

But when Sue suggests we **first** hit up Hagen Dasz and then dry off while eating extra awesome ice cream, I can't help but agree.

Points for **taking me** to my favorite place ever? Takeshi, zero. Sue... **lots.**


	2. Chapter 2

What does Mary-san like? She likes...being prepared.

I never met somebody like Mary-san, before. In one breath, she'll floor you with an extensive speech on the history of cognates in various languages.

In the very next, she'll joke about forgetting her pencils every day for a week. She'll ask if she can get kicked out for wearing mismatched socks, and have the most fearfully wide-eyed look doing so. She'll be at the very top of the class...and still be concerned she'll finish the year in the basement.

She actually did forget her pencils every day in that first week of Japanese 101. I sat in the very back of her row, so when she got up, I had no idea what was going on. When I saw her legs wobble, it was the strangest thing...like, I felt this funny urge to stand up and help her in some way.

Then, Mary-san fell down. Face first, right on the floor, and arms down at her sides as though she was resigned to her fate. I was concerned, but realized I had been rummaging through my backpack when she fell. Takeshi-san helped her to her feet, and when I saw her face, I couldn't help but compare her to a frightened little mouse.

I withdrew my hand just as Yamashita-sensei spoke up at the head of the class. He announced that class rules dictated the loss of one daily point for forgetting writing utensils, but added that the first day of class would just serve as a warning. Mary-san was standing next to him, though, and I think he feared she would keel right over if she lost that point.

I looked down, staring dumbly at the extra pencil I had pulled out of my backpack. I looked back up just in time to see Mary-san scurry back to her desk with a loaned pencil.

In that moment, I wasn't sure if I wanted to give her this pencil or give her a hug more.

 _'_ _Maybe she just needs to make some friends.'_

Naturally, I was very surprised, and distressingly pleased, when the next day arrived and I saw Mary-san struggle to stand up. The defeat in her posture was obvious, and I only stared down in amazement at the pencil I had been holding all morning for a split second.

One step forward.

"Um, Mary-san? Shu...shukudai...tasu...kete?"

When Mary-san turned around, I momentarily forgot how to breathe as her eyes grew wide and her bottom lip trembled. I fought back the urge to crawl into my desk and hide my rosy cheeks; her eyes were on the pencil I was holding out as though it was the Holy Grail.

She took three steps towards me...and flopped on the floor again. I rocketed out of my seat, swept up in a dizzying urge to assist her.

I fell down, too. Mary-san was the one who helped me stand back up.

"Computer major, right? Maybe you could program me to not forget basic stuff like enpitsu, huh?"

I'm drawing a complete blank now when I try to remember what I said in return, but it must have been some offer of future assistance that she remembered. Because for the next three days, without fail, Mary-san showed up at my desk before class.

I handed her a pencil, every time.

In return, she taught me a Japanese word I didn't know. Every time.

By the end of the week, Mary-san was able to walk around the classroom and talk to all the students without suffering any more disastrous falls. She never forgot her pencil again, either, but she always waved at me from then on.

I didn't want her to think I was being rude...but over time, I guess I just started feeling more for her than was appropriate.

I didn't always wave back; I'd look down.

Several months passed, and I had almost forgotten that little shiver I would feel...whenever Mary was in trouble. Even little trouble.

So when I felt it while out on errands one rainy Saturday, I didn't question it...because I was afraid it might be **big** trouble.

Now I'm sitting with her, in my car, and we are both soaked. I barely touched my butter pecan cone; Mary-san's cheerfulness is far sweeter. She gobbled up her banana split in messy fashion, and once again, I have to remember to take breaths.

She's teaching me some ice cream ingredient words, in Japanese, of course. She sounds so excited and energetic; I'm just glad she's safe. This is good and nice and perfect.

I nod dumbly when she announces she has a gift for me. Three pencils are placed on my lap, and all of a sudden, I'm laughing. For a split second, I fear Mary will get the wrong idea...but then I hear **her** laughter.

That I could be even a small part of the reason for that magical sound.

 ** _'_** ** _This is good and nice and perfect.'_**

It's when her lips, still sticky with chocolate sauce, press against my cheek...that I realize I really know nothing about Mary.

I wasn't prepared for that...but it feels like she was. I trust that she'll help me along the way.

But in the meantime, she's staring at me like she needs something. My help?

I don't know what to do...but I know what I want to do.

"Ah! Hey, you can't just waste perfectly good ice cream by shoving it on my face and…"

My ice cream cone needed some chocolate sauce to go with it, anyway.


End file.
